Course Goals

The course fosters self-examination and analysis of artistic capacities and ethical principles. To promote global citizenship, the course is designed to increase self-awareness of one's role within his/her respective communities and greater society. The course examines the importance of diversity and inclusivity by embracing artistic, cultural, intellectual, ethical and spiritual differences through mutual respect and understanding. Students will be exposed to an amalgam of learning strategies and study skills that emphasize critical and divergent thinking, inquiry and creativity. Finally, students will be provided insight into the institution’s academic offerings and the role that Fine Arts plays in shaping life's journey.

Throughout the semester, students will be exposed to two to three sessions with each discipline: Art, Architecture, Dance, Film and Theatre, and by the end of the course will be able to:

Differentiate key movements in Art, Architecture, Film, Theatre and Dance during the period under study, identify differing perspectives therein and connect them across various disciplines. Intellectual breadth is achieved through the introduction of multiple movements within multiple disciplines. Intellectual breadth is achieved through multiple perspectives offered through co-teaching as instruction comes from faculty with varied academic, artistic and professional backgrounds. Life-long learning is achieved through the introduction and reinforcement of positive research and study habits. Students will be able to identify key University resources that support academic success. Multiple seminal texts, works of art, architecture, film and choreography available through course reserves and online sources will provide the students with foundational knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge to new settings and personally meaningful contexts (Intellectual Breadth and Life-Long Learning).

Arrange, analyze and appraise key historical and cultural movements within the various participating disciplines comprising the Fine Arts during the period under study and use quantitative and qualitative methods, including the ability to recognize assumptions, draw inferences, make deductions, and interpret information to analyze problems in context and draw conclusions. Inquiry is addressed with an emphasis on artistic curiosity. Students will be able to recognize complexity of historic and cultural movements, the challenges they present and identify different perspectives from which these challenges or questions may be viewed (Inquiry and Critical Thinking).

Effective and evocative communication is essential to the Fine Arts. All individual learning assignments serve to foster the students' ability to communicate effectively through written assignment, guided discussion or presentation using different media and methods including graphic, digital or emerging technologies. Group presentation projects foster the sharing of information, problem solving and collaboration (Communication).

Moreover, the students will be able to address and assess issues of identity, primarily emerging from under-represented groups, emerging in the Fine Arts during the period under study. The students will experience diverse perspectives linked to identity, including race, gender, ethnicity, nationalism and sexual orientation, both in American and international contexts through exposure to various artists comprising various disciplines of the Fine Arts in interview or panel formats (Global/Multicultural Knowledge and Awareness).

And, finally, Art has impact. Students will be able to identify issues of identity and expression in the Fine Arts –not only with respect to the period under study –but how these issues continue to be grappled with today. The students will be able to assess rights of self-expression, rights of individual and collective security, censorship, how the Fine Arts has been an agent of political and social change, the students' fundamental appraisal of one's world and one's place in it and armed with this knowledge, how to make informed, responsible and ethical decisions in one's personal, professional and artistic life (Citizenship and Ethics).